All the news

Too soon, too late, too little

07/04/2010 -  Petra Tadić Belgrade

After 13 hours of heated debate, the Serbian Parliament approved (127 yes votes from 250 deputies) a resolution condemning the Srebrenica massacre. The document contains apologies to the victims' families, but does not use the word “genocide”. A commentary

Chişinău, one year after the protests

06/04/2010 -  Bernardo Venturi Chişinău

After Moldova's contested parliamentary elections on 6-7 April 2009, peaceful demonstrations degenerated into violent clashes between protesters and police. Civil activists Ghenadie and Oleg Brega remember those days. An interview

Business Incubator

06/04/2010 -  Risto Karajkov Skopje

Two of the most important sectors in the Balkans - economic growth and development cooperation – are becoming increasingly intertwined. For the first time, Macedonia is developing the 'business incubator' model of fostering young enterprises. Not-for-profit actors are implementing the strategy. An interview.

Borders aren't forever

01/04/2010 -  Francisco Martinez Sukhumi

Perspectives on the development of Abkhazia, a territory whose self-proclaimed independence has not been widely recognised at the international level, the country's strained dialogue with Tbilisi, and its relations with Russia and the EU. An interview with Maxim Gvinjia, de facto foreign minister of Abkhazia

Jergović, the Stateless

25/03/2010 -  Azra Nuhefendić

A meeting with Miljenko Jergović in Italy, related to the promotion of his latest book, Freelander. The theory and reality of a stateless writer, between Sarajevo and Zagreb. The search for answers as a strategy for survival, and the sentiment of the past

Back to the Danube

25/03/2010 -  Gilda Lyghounis

For over a century, Greek shipowners were the absolute lords of the Danube river. Their ships once carried goods from the Black Sea to Europe, but practically disappeared by War War II. Today, in spite of the serious economic crisis, Greece is trying to regain its role

Novruz is coming, spring is coming

22/03/2010 -  Arzu Geybullayeva Baku

Novruz, a Zoroastrian holiday, marks the beginning of spring. Prohibited but celebrated discreetly in Soviet years, Novruz is now one of the most anticipated holidays in Azerbaijan


Romania: Economic Woes Deepen

19/03/2010 -  Cornel Ban

The Romanian economy probably will remain in recession for most of 2010. A 20-billion-dollar rescue package from the IMF, World Bank and the EU will only try to serve as a macroeconomic stabiliser instead of as a stimulus package that could help Romania stop its economic tailspin

The genocide issue

17/03/2010 -  Onnik Krikorian Yerevan

A US Congressional resolution, which urges Washington to recognize the 1915 massacre and deportation of as many as 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide, raises concerns about future of Armenia-Turkey process

Ten years after. A new beginning

15/03/2010 - 

Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso celebrates its first ten years with the launch of a new portal, which improves significantly the information services offered to the international readership. A simple English section of our website becomes an independent English-language portal

European by nature

10/03/2010 -  Alberto Tetta Istanbul

Istanbul is the 2010 European Capital of Culture. The calendar of events, the debate between artists and urban planners on the choices by the Istanbul 2010 Agency. The Turkish identity, the European identity

Moldova: time for constitutional reform

08/03/2010 -  Iulian Lungu Chişinău

On 24-26 February, a delegation from the Venice Commission visited the Republic of Moldova. The delegation's visit was part of a task to support Moldova's ongoing constitutional reform process, initiated by the governing Moldovan coalition, Alliance for European Integration

The Decade of Mesić

04/03/2010 -  Drago Hedl Osijek

With the official swearing-in of new Croatian president Ivo Josipović on 18 February, the 10-year era of Stjepan Mesić came to an end. Our correspondent looked back on the Mesić era, a time that saw the strengthening of democratic institutions

Stop Elektrozink

03/03/2010 -  Tamara Shanaeva Vladikavkaz

The citizens of Vladikavkaz are protesting against Elektrozink, a metallurgical factory known for its toxic emissions. Worries for health and environment, though, clash with the difficulties of closing the main plant in the region that gives work to over 2000 people

From soldiers to caregivers

02/03/2010 -  Stefano Lusa

The Slovenian weekly newspaper Mladina has proposed the following: abolish the army and transform soldiers into either caregivers for the elderly or emergency management staff. More than five thousand people have already signed a petition in support of the proposal and the debate is heating up. Insight from our correspondent

Against the Mafia

26/02/2010 -  Cecilia Ferrara Belgrado

Serbia's law on the confiscation of property deriving from crime, outlined in collaboration with the Italian anti-mafia Department and in force for about a year, has started to produce some results. But what does the term “organized crime” mean in Serbia? Here's what the experts say

Mr. President’s answers

25/02/2010 -  Giorgio Comai Nazran

On 19 February, Ingushetia’s President Yunus-bek Yevkurov held a meeting with local university students. When responding to students’ questions, Yevkurov never tried to deny that this small republic in the Northern Caucasus is stricken with problems

Northern Kosovo, in the hunt for solutions

24/02/2010 -  Tatjana Lazarević Mitrovica

The leak in January of the International Civilian Office (ICO) draft strategy for northern Kosovo stirred intense reactions. The plan, which foresees a complex net of new bodies and the "closure" of the Mitrovica office of UNMIK, has been rejected by Serbs as a new try to implement the 2007 Ahtisaari plan

A bridge apart?

23/02/2010 -  Nikolai Yotov Bucharest

Despite their joint access to the EU in 2007, Bulgarians and Romanians continue to live with outdated stereotypes. Political, economic, social, informational exchange between Bucharest and Sofia remains not simply unsatisfactory, but practically absent

Ethnopolis

19/02/2010 -  Andrea Rossini

The Bosnian political crisis in the election year. The European Court of Human Rights' statement on the Dayton Peace Agreement, the force of the Ethnopolis